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Part
12 HALLOWED
BE THY NAME (continued)
“After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name” (Mat. 6:9).
The name YAHWEH is translated GOD about 300 times, and LORD more
than 6,000 times in our English Bible. It is mentioned in scripture more
than any other name of God. The Old Testament combines the name YAHWEH
with other words to form what are known as compound names or the Yahweh
Titles. Several of these are: YAHWEH-YIREH — Yahweh will see, or Yahweh
will provide (Gen. 22:14); YAHWEH-NISSI — Yahweh my banner (Ex. 17:15);
YAHWEH-MEKADDISHKEM — Yahweh who sanctifies you (Ex. 31:13);
YAHWEH-SHALOM — Yahweh send peace (Judges 6:24); YAHWEH-SABBAOTH —
Yahweh of hosts (I Sam. 1:3); YAHWEH-TSIDKENU — Yahweh our righteousness
(Jer. 23:6); YAHWEH-SHAMMAH — Yahweh is there (Eze. 48:35); YAHWEH-ELYON
— Yahweh most high (Ps. 7:17); YAHWEH-ROI — Yahweh my shepherd (Ps.
23:1).
Some other names of God used frequently in scripture are: EL —
the mighty, the strong One; ELOAH — the living God; EL ELYON — the
Most High; EL SHADDAI — the almighty, the all-bountiful, nourisher, the
breasted One; ADON — the ruler; ADONIM — the plural of Adon, carries
all the meaning of Adon but to a higher degree; ADONAI — the Lord.
English is a phonetically oriented language. Our poetry often
depends on phonetic symmetry — rhythm and rhyme. Hebrew poetry, on the
other hand, depends more on a symmetry of ideas than a symmetry of sounds.
This is one of the reasons why the power of Hebrew poetry comes through in
translations. So it is with Hebrew names. They are more oriented toward
meanings than toward sounds. In the Bible names are generally descriptive
of the person, of his position, some circumstance affecting him, etc.
Thus, the “name” often came to stand for the person. This is
illustrated by the fact that a Hebrew name may be a word, a phrase, or
even a sentence. For example, Penuel means “the face of God”. Samuel
means “Asked of God”. Examples of a name being a sentence are Abijah,
“Yah is a Father,” and Eliab, “God is a Father”. To underline the
fact that it is meaning that is important in a Hebrew name rather than the
phonetic sound, compare II Samuel 11:3 and I Chronicles 3:5. Both
scriptures give the name of the father of Bathsheba, but in the one case
he is called Eliam, meaning “God is a kinsman,” and in the other case
he is called Ammiel, meaning “A kinsman is God”. Still another example
is king Jehoiachin (II Kings 24:6), who was also known as Jeconiah (Jer.
24:11). There are many other such examples in scripture where people’s
names were said in different ways simply because the same thought was
expressed in different words, though it meant approximately the same
thing. This shows clearly that it was the meaning of the name that was
important, not the way it was pronounced.
I cannot emphasize too strongly that the thing of importance is not
the spelling or Hebrew pronunciation of God’s names. God never gave
Himself a name because it sounded nice or because there were some magical
powers in the combination of letters. God’s purpose in a name is it’s
MEANING! You see, the name YAHWEH is absolutely meaningless in English. If
you were to address God as “The Self-Existent,” or “The Eternal,”
you would actually be saying His name in English, rather than merely
pronouncing meaningless Hebrew syllables. I know many people who feel they
mouth all the correct forms of God’s name, but they know absolutely
nothing about God’s name, for they have never entered into relationship
with Him IN HIS NATURE REVEALED BY HIS NAME. God’s name is His nature.
The name YAHWEH is derived from the Hebrew verb HAVAH meaning “to
be,” or “being.” This word is almost exactly like the Hebrew verb
CHAVAH meaning “to live,” or “life.” One can readily see the
connection between BEING and
Anything that is absolutely eternal is not only unending, but is
also UNCHANGEABLE. Anything that changes in any way is not eternal, for in
the change some characteristic is left behind and a new one acquired. In
every change something ends and something else begins. That which dwells
in an eternal state knows NO CHANGE. Change is possible only in that which
is limited, imperfect, or immature. Yahweh declares of Himself, “I am
Yahweh (the Eternal), I CHANGE NOT” (Mal. 3:6), and the inspired apostle
says of Him, “With whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning” (James
It is a great and blessed fact that Yahweh is the eternal God.
Transition, adjustment, change — these words seem to be constantly with
us, until we fain would grasp for something that seems to be stable,
solid, enduring. Much of the inner drive for change is simple evidence
that man is not satisfied, has not found his completeness in Christ, for
“beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that when He shall appear WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM...”
(I Jn. 3:2). Here is stability — immutability — the quality of His
nature remains the same, HE IS THE ETERNAL! And this is the nature of
which we would be a partaker, the fullness of which we find in Christ, and
through union with Him we shall be changed until we become changeless in
the absoluteness of that which He is. He who is eternal cannot be
influenced, affected, moved, changed, altered, damaged, destroyed, or
improved in any way. He cannot grow tired or old. The character of God is
eternal, changeless, unaffected. The love, joy, peace, righteousness, and
power of God do not rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. Matters
not what happens or what men or devils say or do, the love of God, the
nature of God, the purpose of God and the power of God are steadfast,
unmoved, unquenched, undiminished, unaffected, without fluctuation. The
eternal existence of God is certain for He is the source of all life.
Death cannot touch Him for He is not dependent upon the sustaining power
of another, He is Yahweh, the Self-Existent One.
With these lofty thoughts of God in our minds, our hearts respond
with joyful accord when Christ in His wisdom shows that it is God’s
intention that he who walks in the blessed realm of sonship should be as
constant and unchanging as is God Himself. To His disciples Christ spoke
these incredible words: “For as the Father THE JEWS AND YAHWEH
It is a clear fact of history that from the time the house of Judah
was carried away in captivity to Babylon they laid aside the use of the
name Yahweh, through a superstitious dread, but also because the Jews left
behind the Hebrew language in the Babylonian captivity, returning to the
land of Israel as an Aramaic speaking people — the language of Babylon.
They substituted, therefore, the courtesy title “Adonai,” or
“Lord.” Later the name was written with the consonants of the word
Yahweh and the vowel sounds of the word Adonai. And in some time very late
in history, probably about the time of the Protestant reformation in
The third commandment is: “Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh
thy God in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh His
name in vain.” No people could have been more scrupulous in their
reverence for the name of God — the word YAHWEH — than the Jews. Their
scribes wrote it with reverence upon their scrolls, but regarded it as
blasphemy to repeat or read it aloud, lest it should become defiled upon
their lips. The very Hebrew letters of it were considered sacred, and
became a superstitious fetish — a thing to conjure with. They attributed
magical powers to the Name (word) so that it became a talisman or a charm
— indeed, an idol! The name Yahweh, in all of Israel, was pronounced
only once a year, and then only by the High Priest when he entered into
the Holy of holies on the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Whenever the
scribes, who copied the scrolls of the scriptures, came to any one of the
names of God, they would change the pen and pray and then write the name.
Whenever they came to the great unpronounceable name of God, the name of
Yahweh, they would stop, bathe, change their clothes, change their pen,
confess their sins, pray to God and then, with great reverence, they would
dip their pen into the ink only once. They would never dip it again in the
midst of the writing of the name. They were commanded that should the king
speak to them in the midst of writing that name they were to pay him no
heed at all — so intense was their superstitious reverence for the name
Yahweh. THE SACRED NAME
There is much misleading teaching in these days concerning what is
known as the “Sacred Name”, and so, let us shine the Light of the Lord
upon the matter, so that any darkness of confusion or error might be
dispelled, and that His Truth might be seen in all of its glory. No child
of God need be uncertain or doubtful about speaking of, and to, the Father
in the words of his or her own language. We speak of the Lord God; we
speak of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord — all wonderful words that spring
out of the depths of our hearts, and speak volumes of an intimate love and
reverence of our heavenly Father and for our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s name is important! But — must we, as some claim, use only
Hebrew names when speaking of the Father and the Son? Is salvation or true
reverence based on the pronunciation of God’s name in a certain
language, or on a certain set of sounds? The notion that we must use only
God’s Hebrew names is of no ancient origin. Those names were not used by
the early Church, nor by the Church fathers, nor by the great men of God
through the ages. Actually, the Hebrew-names teaching had its beginnings
less than sixty years ago, in the late 1930’s. At that time, proponents
of the idea began to claim that it is gross sin to say the name Jesus
Christ, which is an anglicized spelling of the Greek words Iesous and
Christos. God’s name, they alleged, must be spoken only in Hebrew. This
is an important prerequisite for entering God’s Kingdom, they claimed.
These same few teach that the sacred name of our heavenly Father is Yahweh
and that the name of the Son of God is Yahshua. The word Elohim, too, must
be used instead of our English equivalent word God. They declare that when
we pray or speak about God and Christ, we must use only these Hebrew
names. It is wrong, they say, to translate the names of the Deity into
English or any other language. In other words, we may freely read or
discuss the Bible as translated into the English language in all terms
except the names of God or Jesus Christ. Then we must speak Hebrew. It is
alright to say Mary instead of
I’m quite sure the name “Yahweh” does not convey to me the
identical same thing it conveyed to the ancient Hebrews. I did not hear
the word until I was in my early twenties. When I heard it for the first
time, I was not impressed. In fact, the word did not even sound like a
name. It was, for all practical purposes, meaningless to me. The word
“God,” on the other hand, is a deeply meaningful word, as are the
words “Lord,” Eternal,” and “Father.” When I hear the word God,
or when I say or think the word, I think of the Great Creator. The word
means Eternal Ruler of the universe; it means The Almighty. It means God.
Think about it! You can kneel in the presence of your heavenly Father and
say, “My Father, my God...” with a certain depth of genuine emotion
and meaning — for the words “Father” and “God” are meaningful to
you. But when you pray, “O Yahweh, my Elohim...” something personal,
deep, and intimate is missing. If your mind works anything like mine, the
English terms enable you to express yourself before God with a greater
depth of relationship than do the Hebrew words. So, what was appropriate
for Moses may not necessarily be appropriate for you — as far as words
are concerned.
There are three basic assumptions behind the “Sacred Name”
idea. The first is that Hebrew is God’s language. It is somehow special
and holy. The second is that the New Testament was written in Hebrew or
Aramaic — thus the originals were not contaminated by Greek paganism.
The final assumption is that the correct pronunciation of YHWH has not
been lost in the mists of time. If any of these assumptions are false,
then the doctrine of the Sacred Name crumbles.
Most Sacred Name people believe that Hebrew is a special language
— the language of God — or at least the language He has chosen and
ordained in a peculiar way on earth. They believe it is a sin to translate
God’s name into any other language because it thus becomes “paganized”.
The question follows — Is Hebrew God’s special language, or a normal,
humanly developed language that just happened to already be the language
of the first people God chose to reveal Himself to and choose for His
unique purpose — namely, the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? All
authorities on linguistics and archaeology agree that Hebrew was no
isolated or divine language in Old Testament times. It was exactly what
Isaiah calls it — the language of
One of the common Old Testament names for God is the Hebrew word
EL. EL creates real problems for the Sacred Name people. The name EL was
in use among the pagan Canaanites long before Moses penned the first five
books of the Bible. In the cuneiform religious tablets excavated at Ras
Shamra (an ancient Canaanite city north of Israel), for example, EL (El
the Bull) is described as the head of the Canaanite pantheon of gods,
husband of Asherah and father of all the other gods. If it is a sin for us
to use the English word God because pagan Druids used it to refer to their
idols, or the word Lord because the name of the pagan god Baal meant
“Lord,” then, by the same reasoning it is also a sin to use the Hebrew
words Elohim, El, and all the other forms of God’s name containing El.
Also notice that the Hebrew word Elohim is used 240 times throughout the
inspired Old Testament to refer to pagan, heathen idols! This usage by the
Holy Spirit Himself shows that it is just as permissible to use the
English word God today for both our heavenly Father and for pagan idols.
When used of our Father it is the meaning that is important, not the
language, spelling, or pronunciation.
The Sacred Name avoidance of the word “Lord” is very curious
because the Old Testament, which most Sacred Name believers use in
preference to the New Testament, calls Yahweh Lord on several occasions.
Ezekiel 2:4 is an example of this. Here the words “Yahweh” and
“Adonai” (Lord) are used together to form one name or title — Lord
Yahweh. Since the Old Testament uses the word “El” for God and
“Adonai” for Lord, and these words are of human origin, and anciently
used also by the pagans, how can it be wrong to use the English equivalent
of these words today? EL or YAHWEH or ADONAI mean little to today’s
reader, whereas God and Lord are pregnant with meaning to English speaking
people. The Sacred Name believers cite Hosea 2:16-17 as proof that it is
an abomination to use the word Lord. It says, “And it shall be at that
day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no
more Baali (my Lord). For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her
mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.” The passage
clearly states that in the day that the Lord’s people no longer call Him
“Baali” they will call Him “Ishi.” And yet — I have never met
the person who goes around calling God “Ishi”! Those who use Yahweh
and Yahshua do not go about calling God Ishi. They do not pray to “Ishi,”
or cast out devils by calling over them “Ishi,” or heal the sick in
the name of “Ishi.” Ishi is the intimate Hebrew word that could have
just as well been translated “husband.” Furthermore, while “Baali”
does indeed mean “my Lord” in the sense of a Master or a Husband, Baal
in English is NOT “LORD” — it is BAAL! And in Hebrew that name has
many compound forms just as Yahweh has many compound forms. And the fact
that none of those compound forms of Baal anciently used by Israel in
their idolatry is used by us today IS THE PROOF THAT GOD HAS
Though the vast majority of the Old Testament was inspired in the
Hebrew language, Daniel and Ezra wrote portions of their books in Aramaic
or Syriac, the prevalent language spoken throughout the
But what about the New Testament books? The original inspired
language of the New Testament was Greek. Greek was virtually a universal
language in the time of Christ and the apostles, widely understood by both
Jews and Gentiles. Much of the New Testament was written by the apostle
Paul, the apostle sent to the Greek-speaking nations who did not know
Hebrew or Aramaic. When Paul wrote in Greek to the people who spoke Greek,
did he pause in mid sentence to switch from Greek to Hebrew to write
Yahweh or Yahshua when faced with a sacred name? Never! Paul invariably
used the Greek word for God, theos, and the word for Lord, kurios. And he
used the Greek name Iesous for Jesus. And so did the other writers of the
New Testament books, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. In 665 places in the
New Testament, the apostles translated the Hebrew word YHWH into the Greek
word kurios. THERE IS NOT ONE NEW TESTAMENT GREEK MANUSCRIPT WITH THE
NAMES OF GOD WRITTEN IN HEBREW!
In the face of these clear facts, the Sacred Name proponents have
no choice but to deny that the New Testament was originally written in
Greek. They assert — wrongly — that the whole of the New Testament was
originally written in Aramaic (some even say Hebrew!), and only later
translated into Greek. At the time of this alleged translation, they
claim, the sacred Hebrew names were wrongly removed and pagan names
substituted. THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS ON THEM. The evidence? There is none!
For it is a totally false and contrived notion, devised out of necessity
to justify a false premise! The Aramaic version of the New Testament
available today is clearly a later translation from the original inspired
Greek. The only copies of the original New Testament writings that have
been preserved are in Greek — none in Aramaic or Hebrew. Nobody on earth
can produce one single “original” copy in those languages!
Furthermore, there is no doubt that the Greek of the New Testament
is inspired of God, for it is perfect in every way, including numerically.
Therefore, as the Greek word kurios is used in the New Testament in
quoting from the Old Testament, it demonstrates again that without doubt
it is perfectly right and proper to TRANSLATE THE NAMES AND TITLES OF GOD
FROM ONE LANGUAGE INTO ANAOTHER. Again, as the Greek of the New Testament
is inspired of God, we know that the Greek word Iesous is inspired, which
is used, of course, to translate the Old Testament name Yahshua. As
someone has said, the numeric design in the Greek New Testament is not a
mere curiosity. We find that the numeric value of the name Jesus is 888,
whereas the name of His satanic counterpart is 666. Eight is the number
symbolic of the new order, resurrection, regeneration. In Isaiah 53:10 it
states that “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God.” The numeric value of the phrase “salvation of our God” in
Greek is 888. Such examples could be multiplied hundreds of times.
Obviously this is by DIVINE ARRANGEMENT, for no other Greek writings bear
these marks of numeric design. Can we not see by this that Iesous IS the
inspired name of Yahshua in Greek? In English, we obtain the name Joshua
from the Hebrew, and the name Jesus from the Greek, all having the power
of the same meaning — Saviour! Blessed be HIS wonderful name! No matter
what language it is in! While Hebrew was the language, under God, of the
times of the Old Covenant, Greek was the language chosen by God to set
down and to reveal the glorious truths of the Gospel of Christ — the New
Covenant. The time for the Hebrew language had passed with the Old
Covenant. Its time, no matter the opinions and efforts of men, will never
come again. The Hebrew language and the Old Covenant are inextricably and
forever linked! But in the final analysis, the Hebrew language is no
different from any other, for the Hebrew language is not the language of
Heaven. God is a Spirit, and the language of Heaven is neither Hebrew nor
Greek, but a spiritual language that can be known only in and by the
Spirit. It is a communication from mind to mind, from spirit to spirit, in
a realm beyond the languages of man. To speak of God as having names in
the sense in which men have names is to limit Him as if He were a man, but
He is an infinite Spirit who has deigned to reveal the many sides of His
nature in the words of man, be it in one language or another!
In addition to these facts, there is acknowledged disagreement
among Sacred Name writers and movements about the correct Hebrew form of
God’s name. I have read a number of Sacred Name books and articles
through the years and have found all the following (and more!) given as
the one and only “correct” and “inspired” form of the name:
YAHWEH, YEHWEH, YAHVEH, JAHVAH, YAHWOH, YAHVE, YEHVOH, YAHAWEY, YAHAWAH
and YEWE. Each has his “proof” and thinks he, and he alone, is right!
A dear brother wrote that he has six Sacred Name Bibles and not one of
them agrees! Why? Simply because the true pronunciation was LOST through
all the centuries when it was not used by the Jews, ten-tribed
Since the pronunciation of God’s name in Hebrew has been lost for
the past two and a half millenniums, it is as though God deliberately hid
the “letter” of His name — that we might come to know Him by the
Spirit! As a brother has written: “We may sum this up by saying that God
gave the name YHWH to Moses as a temporary measure. When it had served its
purpose, He obliterated its memory in three steps. (1) He allowed the Jews
to have a spurious reverence for it, so that they did not dare pronounce
it. (2) He caused Hebrew to be written without vowels, so that it could
not be fully recorded, and (3) He did not allow it to be transliterated
into Greek or any other language while its pronunciation was still
known.” If the correct phonetics of His name were so important —
indeed, if our very salvation depended upon it; if our entrance into the
High Calling of God in His Kingdom depended upon it — then we are of all
men most miserable. And, if we are blaspheming God by mispronouncing His
name, or dishonoring Him by not using the Hebrew form of His name, is it
not true that all the Sacred Name people are just as guilty as anyone else
with the possible exception one group? And who knows for certain which
group that might be? It is like the law, “For whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James
The solution lies not in the “letter” of His name but in the
meaning of His name — understood by the Spirit! The work of God in our
lives is not based on pronunciation! Those who would worship the sound of
a name — treating it with superstitious and mystical reverence — make
an idol out of that sound. Thinking they have some gift of greater
revelation, they actually miss the whole point and intent of the
scriptures, and engender needless strife and division. Remember the words
of Jesus in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my
Father.” Performance, not pronunciation, is of paramount importance to
God. We honor His name by walking out His nature and character as His
sons, not by mouthing a certain sound. Do not be misled by the naive and
misguided “scholarship” of those who would make a “show of
wisdom.” Their teachings are not substantiated by the Word of God, but
are based on a multitude of woefully misapplied scriptures.
There is a powerful lesson about the name of the Lord in the life
of Dr. Thomas Wyatt, an apostle of faith, mightily used of God in the
earlier days of this century. I met him in the days of the great Latter
Rain move of God. The well-known author, Basil Miller, in his biography of
Thomas Wyatt, records the events in Wyatt’s life that immediately
followed his conversion. He says, “Though Thomas Wyatt had found
spiritual elation, the physical pain and body torment steadily increased.
It was difficult for him to bend. Only with severe anguish could he carry
the duties of the larger farm he rented the following year. Every move,
every action was a knife stuck into his vitals. It became so serious that
he decided to go to
“He was drawn and haggard. The doctor, after a complete
examination, said, ‘The cushions between your vertebrae are causing your
pain. The X-rays show that your vertebrae are all growing together. That
is why you cannot straighten up. We recommend that you go back home and
set your house in order. Your chances of living are slight. If you live,
you will be a cripple throughout life.’ Dr. Mayo suggested that Tom
return to
“Returning home, the emotional strain proved too great, and Tom
went to bed. For eighteen months he was bedfast, a total invalid. A cousin
came to oversee the work of the farm. Day after day the patient’s
strength waned. Despite the fact that these were days spent in communion
with the Lord, there was no thought or idea of calling on the great
Physician for a healing hand to be laid upon Tom’s body. He became
weaker as the months passed, until at length the twisted, pain-racked body
could endure no more. Tom sensed death lurking in the shadows. He had been
sinking for several days, and finally went into a coma. His relatives had
been called, and they gathered to be with him in his last hours. Funeral
arrangements were made. Since the local newspaper was published weekly,
the editor thought it wise to print Tom’s obituary in the current issue,
giving the day of his death, and the time of the funeral. The night before
his supposed death-day, Tom dropped into a deep coma...then God stepped in
with the miracle of Thomas Wyatt’s healing.
“While his relatives were out of the room, Tom wakened from an
eighteen-hour death coma. Utterly helpless, physically wasted, death
appearing and inviting, he looked up and was touched by the finger of God.
Regaining consciousness, Tom’s eyes were fixed upon the ceiling. He lay
there convinced he was dying. But he did not seem to care. In fact, he
actually welcomed death. He had lived in pain so long. Life had been hard,
filled with suffering and dire need. He felt that these were his last
conscious hours. He had no regret at leaving loved ones, for he was tired
of life’s toilsome road. Then out of the eternities came a clear and
distinct Voice. The Voice seemed to come from everywhere. In a firm and
quietly-spoken tone the words of the Lord sounded: ‘I AM THE LORD THAT
“How he reached deliverance’s blessed mount he had no idea, but
he sensed the rarefied atmosphere of the Supernatural. He had always
believed God from the instant Christ had saved him, and now he was
possessed by an instinctive urge to act upon this overwhelming truth
spoken by the Lord. Shortly the relatives returned to the room. As they
approached the bed they saw that he had regained consciousness. They
leaned over, and in a faint voice Tom whispered, ‘The Lord has come and
healed me.’ Tom had lain in bed without any overt motions for eighteen
months. Now he asked his relatives to lift him up. He wanted to sit on the
edge of the bed. When they protested, Tom demanded that they lift him up.
As they lifted him, thousands of pain-needles shot through his body, and
he fell over in a dead faint. They picked him up from the floor and laid
him back on the bed, thinking this was the end. But Tom did not sink into
another coma, though he remained helpless throughout the day and night. It
was evident that the death power which had visited him earlier was broken
and he had been delivered. Though he could not move, his heart was filled
with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
“Tom asked to be taken to the table to eat the noonday meal with
the family. He was lifted from the bed, carried to the table, and set into
a chair. The second day was a repetition of the first. Tom went back to
the table for three meals. The return of strength was speedy after that,
for faith had motivated action, and action had evidenced faith. For thirty
days faith pushed Tom into act after act, until at the end of a month, not
a trace of the old sickness remained. Having lived in the Bible and
experienced Christ’s marvelous transforming and healing power, Tom Wyatt
would soon be ready to carry the message of total deliverance to all
mankind. He could not pass by suffering humanity, as the priest and Levite
had done, when he himself had experienced the warm fellowship of the Good
Samaritan in balming his broken body” — end quote.
The point I beseech you to consider is the manner in which the Lord
Himself spoke to Thomas Wyatt. The Lord says in Exodus 15:26, “If thou
wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Yahweh thy God, and wilt do that
which is right in my sight...I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am Yahweh that healeth
thee.” The phrase in our English Bibles, “I am the Lord that healeth
thee,” appears in the Hebrew text as one of the great compound
redemptive names Yahweh. It is YAHWEH-ROPHEKHA — “I am Yahweh your
healer.” God certainly knows who He is! And, while in the Hebrew He says
that He is YAHWEH that heals, yet when this same ever-living God spoke
sovereignly and audibly to poor Thomas Wyatt on his death bed, He did not
say, “I am YAHWEH that healeth thee,” but, “I am THE LORD that
healeth thee!” God Himself called Himself “the Lord” and thereby
honored the title most often used of Him in the English language. If
“Lord” is the name of “Baal,” as some contend, and is an
abomination from which we must be cleansed, then the Lord Himself
certainly made a serious mistake and a grave error in calling Himself
“the LORD that healeth thee.” I could cite scores of examples like
this one of which I have first-hand knowledge. I am not aware of any
supernatural revelation of the Lord to any non-Hebrew-speaking man or
woman in this age of the Spirit in which God identified Himself as
“Yahweh” or in which the Lord Jesus announced Himself as “Yahshua.”
He could certainly do so should He choose, and may have on some occasion,
but it is almost unknown in the recorded history of God’s dealings with
men. JESUS IS YAHWEH!
We ought not to be ashamed of calling Christ our “God,” because
He is Yahweh; He stands upon earth and calls to us “I AM!” And we need
not make a big issue out of it, but fall down as did the disciples of old
and cry, “My Lord, and my God!” In Him we know the living God, the
Father in heaven. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (Jn.
Jesus Himself said it this way: “If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen
Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou, then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not
of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works” (Jn.
14:7-10).
Now let us read Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us a child is born, unto us
a Son is given...His name shall be called...the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father.” It does not say mighty man, but Mighty God. A
little child is called the Mighty God. All Christians agree with the
prophecy of this verse. The child mentioned here refers to the child born
in the stable in
God’s name is written in Jesus. It would little avail to ask how
we know the Father’s name is written in Jesus. That would be like asking
how we know that Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy” is joyous. If a man were
to say, “It is not joyous to me,” he would not condemn the music; he
would only reveal his own morbidness. The name of the Son of God is Jesus.
That is His complete name. That is His correct name. That is His full
name. The name of the eternal Word of God who stepped across the stars to
the planet earth to be born in the little
I know many people are struggling with the different names of God
— is it Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, Yehovah or something else, all of which
wrangling is stupidity and ignorance. The name of God has ever been a
progressive unfolding. “And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I
am Yahweh: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the
name of El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh was I not known unto them”
(Ex. 6:2-3). So many suppose that “Yahweh” is the FINAL REVELATION OF
GOD’S NAME. Not so! God has progressively revealed Himself by different
names. Think! Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not even know God as Yahweh!
The very first sentence of the Bible reveals God to us as Elohim — the
Creator. The Bible then reveals to us God as Yahweh Elohim — the Creator
of the heavens and the earth, and the One who formed and gave life to
Adam. The Bible reveals to us God as El Elyon — whom all nations worship
and of whom all nations seem to have the “God consciousness.” The next
great stage of the self revelation of God is as El Shaddai — the
nourisher, the breasted One, sustaining the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. The next stage is the further revelation of God as Yahweh — the
eternal, self-existent Lord and Redeemer of Israel. The next great stage
is the manifestation of God in the Person of Yahshua — Yahweh as
salvation unto all the ends of the earth. It was God’s plan from the
beginning to reveal Himself from glory to glory, from name to name.
The people of
God purposed from the beginning to reveal Himself BEYOND YAHWEH.
And now He has delivered the Kingdom to His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the
Mighty God and the Everlasting Father. Oh, the mystery of it! Oh, the
wonder of it! Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a
name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, of things in the earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). The King James version
says that God has given Jesus “a” name above every name; but that is
not how it is in the Greek. The Greek has the definite article — “the
name” above every name. This title, ‘THE NAME,” is a very common
Hebrew title denoting office, rank, dignity, as well as honor and worship
bestowed on the one on whom this name was conferred. Then THE NAME is
revealed — “that at THE NAME OF JESUS every knee should bow...” And
the wonderful name of Jesus is THE NAME above every other name both in
heaven and in earth! Think of it! That certainly includes the name Yahweh.
If the name of Jesus is THE NAME that is above every other name in heaven,
then God has given Jesus the name that is above Yahweh! God Himself, yes,
Yahweh Himself, has highly exalted Jesus and given Him the name above
every other name anywhere. There is no name of God that He has ever
revealed His nature in that is as high as the mighty name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. In other words, there is no revelation of God’s nature
that is as high as the nature of God revealed in Jesus. Jesus is God’s
nature revealed in its fullest. And that is what sonship is.
The consciousness of the power of God’s name was in the heart of
every faithful Israelite. A young man was not afraid to stand before
Goliath and say, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and
with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of Yahweh of hosts” (I
Sam. There
is authority in the name of Jesus because He inherited it. We cannot
measure the vastness of the power in the name of Jesus without realizing
that He inherited that name from God the Father. “God...hath in these
last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the
angels, as He hath BY INHERITANCE OBTAINED A
Those who cling to the name Yahweh are living under the Old
Testament economy of God with fleshly
I write to you today of the power of the name of Jesus Christ. It
is the name of omnipotence for our Lord Himself declared, “All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Mat. 28:18). In that name the
lowliest and most vile of God’s prodigal children may be saved and
transformed. With the name of Jesus on their lips, martyrs have calmly and
joyfully faced death by fire and sword. In His name multitudes have lived
their lives of service, cheerfully doing their rounds of mercy and
goodness. In the name of Jesus the first lisping prayers of infant hearts
arise. The name of Jesus has comforted and sustained broken, bleeding
hearts in hours of darkest sorrow. In His name the most glorious victories
of faith have been won. The name of Jesus is all-conquering. It is the
name that is above every other name in heaven and on earth. Therefore it
is higher than the name Yahweh, and higher even than the name El Elyon!
That name is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. It is in this name that every knee shall bow and every
tongue swear allegiance — of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things in the underworld. All hail the power of Jesus’ name!!
And remember, precious friend of mine, there is no need to say the
name in Hebrew. It is not at all necessary to speak the name of Yahshua,
although His name in Hebrew is just as precious and powerful to those who
speak Hebrew as Jesus is to us. The greatest proof, to my mind, is the
authority, power and value GOD HIMSELF PLACES IN THE NAME. I have seen
devils come out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen cripples
walk at the name of Jesus. I have seen every manner of sickness and
disease healed in the name of Jesus. I have seen signs and wonders wrought
in the name of the Lord Jesus. Untold millions of people have been saved,
cleansed, delivered and transformed by faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
All the works accomplished in all the great revivals in
Let us exalt the glorious name of Jesus Christ the Lord! Let us
with bowed heads and worshipful spirits say with deepest emotion,
“Hallowed be Thy name!” Let us exalt Him to that resplendent heaven
where He sits enthroned on the throne of the Father. Let us exalt Him as
the image of God, the only visibility of God, God manifested in the flesh,
Emmanuel, God with us, the Man in whom dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily — of whom we are members in particular and brothers in
the great family of God. Let us exalt Him and put His name above every
other name in which God has ever revealed Himself; and above every name
that has ever been spoken into human ear or uttered by mortal lips. Let us
shout it out in song, roll it forth on organ swell, blast it out in
trumpet call, and proclaim on the lips of eloquence that His name is above
every name; that God the infinite Father has exalted that name above all
of His names and has ordained that in the name of Jesus all shall bow in
worshipful adoration in heaven and in earth.
In closing let me add one more thought. The name of Jesus is more
than the letters J-E-S-U-S. The power of a name, the life of a name, the
reality of a name is not in the letters or pronunciation but in the
meaning it embodies. Name means nature. It is the NATURE of Jesus Christ
that has been highly exalted. He has been given a SAVING NATURE that is
above every other nature in heaven and in earth. Every living creature
possesses a nature. The dog barks and the cat meows because of their
nature. There is the elephant nature, the lion nature, the horse nature.
There are the natures of mighty angels and pernicious devils, and the
nature of Adam — mankind. There may be myriads of creatures on other
planets in far away galaxies of the universe, I do not doubt it for one
moment. But the man Christ Jesus has been highly exalted into a Nature
that is grander and more glorious and far superior to the nature of any
other being throughout the vastnesses of infinity. It is the divine
nature. It is the active side of the divine nature, a nature that is not
content to just BE what it is, but reaches forth to impart to creation all
that it is. It is the divine SAVING NATURE. This is the man Christ
Jesus’ new name — His NEW NATURE. In this name is the hope of sonship
and the ministry of the manifested sons of God. These sons are destined to
deliver creation from the bondage of corruption and this can only be
accomplished by the saving nature of God. That is the highest expression
of all that He is. That is His new name.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that
sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were
many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew (or had
experienced), but He Himself” (Rev. 19:11-12). And to the overcomer it
is promised: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of
my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem: and I
will write upon him my new name” (Rev. 3:12).
The key to receiving His new name is overcoming. The starting point
in overcoming is with the little things, the little foxes that spoil the
vine. You will be defeated if you start with the giants. You must first
slay your bear and kill your lion before you take on Goliath. Start
overcoming the little things, those little quirks and idiosyncrasies in
your personality — those things you think, those words you speak, those
attitudes you manifest from time to time, facial expressions, body
movements, gestures, slothfulness, sins of omission — these little
things that fall short and miss the mark of the nature of the Christ. God
wants us to be changed! We will never be changed just by hearing the
message and giving assent to it. We must take on — appropriate — a
whole new nature that is absolutely contrary to the human nature. I’m
not talking about warring with the “old man” or wrestling with the
“devil.” I’m talking about so putting on a new nature until all that
is contrary to that nature is put to death. I’m talking about so putting
on a new nature until it becomes natural to be supernatural.
HE must increase, WE must decrease — and it must be in that
order. You do not die in order to live, you live in order to die. By
accentuating the positive you eliminate the negative. By turning on the
light you drive away the darkness. By the infusion of life you abolish
death. Truth destroys error. Reality negates fantasy. That is the law of
conformation into the image of Christ. You fill your mind with the Truth
of Christ, you flood your life with the Word of God, and “at the name of
Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.” The “name”
denotes the “nature.” If you have partaken of the nature of Jesus then
every knee within you must bow before that nature and every tongue, every
voice within you, must confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of
God the Father. My beloved, until this happens within us we are not Saviours to the world. We can talk about manifested sonship all we please, we can confess it, name it and claim it, teach it and preach it, blab it and grab it, and pride ourselves in our superior calling — but until the nature of Jesus rules within we are not one whit beyond the religious world around us. Every enemy within must be routed and cast out by the power of His glorious name, His glorious nature. Do you want power to cast out devils? Begin by having the devils cast out of you. That’s the starting point, you see. You say, “I don’t have any devils in me.” That may be true — but it is nothing short of amazing when the right testing, temptation, problem or pressure comes our way how many devils can be raised up in us! Sometimes it takes very little. But at the nature of Jesus every knee bows and every tongue confesses His Lordship within. “Believe on the name of the Son of God,” the scripture says. But the Greek is a little more definitive: “Believe into the name of the Son of God.” This means more than believing on the name of the man Jesus who lived two thousand years ago. It speaks of believing into His nature so that His nature becomes our nature. It is putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is hallowing His name in our lives. It is raising up and exalting the nature of Christ within. May God make it reality to all those blessed ones who read these lines today! HALLOWED BE THY NAME! By J. Preston Eby. [ENTER TEXT OF WRITING / SCRIERE HERE] |
Other Writings in This Series:
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